Smithsonian denies White House pressure to remove Trump impeachment references

WASHINGTON AP The White House did not pressure the Smithsonian to remove references to President Donald Trump s two impeachments from an exhibit and will include him in an updated presentation in the coming weeks the museum mentioned Saturday The revelation that Trump was no longer listed among impeached presidents sparked concern that history was being whitewashed to appease the president We were not solicited by any Administration or other administration official to remove content from the exhibit the Smithsonian announcement mentioned A museum spokesperson Phillip Zimmerman had previously pledged that a future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments but it was not clear when the new exhibit would be installed The museum on Saturday did not say when in the coming weeks the new exhibit will be ready A label referring to Trump s impeachments had been added in to the National Museum for American History s exhibit on the American presidency in a section called Limits of Presidential Power The section includes materials on the impeachment of Presidents Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson and the Watergate disgrace that helped lead to President Richard Nixon s resignation The placard which was meant to be a temporary addition to a twenty-five year-old exhibition did not meet the museum s standards in appearance location timeline and overall presentation the report mentioned It was not consistent with other sections in the exhibit and moreover blocked the view of the objects inside its matter For these reasons we removed the placard Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice in for pushing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden who would later defeat Trump in the presidential balloting and in for incitement of insurrection a reference to the Jan siege of the U S Capitol by Trump supporters attempting to halt congressional certification of Biden s accomplishment The Democratic majority in the House voted each time for impeachment The Republican-led Senate each time acquitted Trump Source